Consultancy to dairy farmers relating to animal health and herd health management on small- and medium-sized farms

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to obtain information about animal health challenges for dairy farmers of small- and medium-sized herds and about the fields in which consultancy services should be improved. The hyperlink to an internet-based survey was sent to 9,021 farmers in Austria. The survey included questions about the participants and their farms, about who is consulting with the farmers with regard to animal health, feeding, sire selection, construction of barns and animal husbandry, about animal health issues farmers find most challenging, and about their demands for improved consultancy services. The questionnaire was completed anonymously. Analyses were stratified by milk yield (categorized) and whether farmers worked full-time or part-time. The overall response rate was 11.3% (n=1,018). The majority of farms kept less than 20 cows (54.0%) or 20 to 50 cows (40.1%). With regard to animal health, the veterinarian was the most important consultant for the majority of farmers (84.6%). On issues related to feeding, sire selection, and stable construction, the veterinarian was seen as a less important consultant than specialists in these fields (20.4, 11.6, and 7.9% suggested the veterinarian as an important consultant in these areas). The survey indicated that reproductive disorders, udder disease, poor conception rate, lameness, and calf diarrhea represent the most important challenges to farmers. Of these, concerns about calf diarrhea were affected by milk yield of the herds and management. More high- than low-yielding farms (11.7 vs. 6.4%) and more full-time than part-time managed herds (9.6 vs.4.3%) regarded calf diarrhea as an important problem. Farmers would welcome improved consultancy with regard to fertility, feeding, and sire selection. The results indicated which animal health issues farmers find particularly challenging and displayed which areas farmers require improved consultancy services. Veterinarians and organizations offering consultancy should take the results into consideration in improving or adapting their advisory services.

Results of an online questionnaire to survey calf management practices on dairy cattle breeding farms in Austria and to estimate differences in disease incidences depending on farm structure and management practices

“…The response rate was comparable to and the total number of respondents was greater than in other similarly designed questionnaire based surveys [5,17,18]. In other studies on calf management, however, the response rate was greater, achieving 58-73 % [4,19].…”

“…Therefore, it is of importance to find optimal intervention and prevention strategies to reduce the risk of calf diseases on farms [3]. Diarrhoea and respiratory tract disease are the most frequent diseases in calves [4,5]. Several risk factors for calf diseases, particularly diarrhoea, have been identified, including farm size, presence of a calving pen and hygiene in this area, the quality of colostrum and the route of colostrum feeding as well as type of calf housing [4,[6][7][8][9].…”

Perceptions and practices of Finnish dairy producers on disbudding pain in calves

“…It is recommended to use sedatives, local anesthetics, and NSAID to alleviate disbuddingrelated pain (AVA, 2004;New Zealand Government, 2005; AVMA, 2012), but little is known about how well veterinarians follow these recommendations. Veterinarians are thought to be important consultants for farmers concerning animal health and welfare (Pothmann et al, 2014) and authority figures for producers (Kauppinen et al, 2010). Finnish producers have an opportunity to join a veterinary herd health management program (VHHM).…”

Relationship between the probability of veterinary-diagnosed bovine mastitis occurring and farm management risk factors on small dairy farms in Austria

“…Dairy farms in Austria, as in Switzerland and in Alpine regions of Italy, are often relatively small (on average around 20 dairy cows) compared with the European average herd size (Busato et al, 2000;Corazzin et al, 2010;Pothmann et al, 2014). This leads to specific differences between Alpine farms and larger, more intensive farms in the lowland areas of Europe and North America.…”